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Tohoku University set the precedent for gender equality in Japan when it accepted the first female students in 1913. Since then, many women have followed, making widespread contributions to various fields and society as a whole. Tohoku University continues to build on that legacy by putting the necessary structures in place to create a better world for the present and future.
The Three Students Who Broke the Gender Barrier
The Ministry of Education’s letter to Tohoku University
During the Meiji period, only men from the old high school system were accepted into universities. However, at the beginning of the Taisho era, Tohoku Imperial University - the precursor to Tohoku University - decided to break this norm by allowing female applicants to take its entrance exams. This was in line with the university’s foundational ‘open door’ policy, which sought to accept students and faculty from a wide variety of backgrounds. On August 21, 1913, the university announced in the local gazette that three female students had been accepted, breaking a significant gender barrier for women across Japan.
Yet the announcement was met with considerable backlash. Male students campaigned against it, and the Ministry of Education even sent a letter of inquiry to Tohoku University, claiming that there was no precedent for the admission of women. But the university held firm; Chika Kuroda and Ume Tange, who studied chemistry, and Raku Makita, who studied mathematics, became the first female university students in Japan.
Kuroda and Makita graduated in 1916, while Tange followed in 1918. All three women continued on with their academic journeys. Kuroda initially worked at Tokyo Woman's Higher Normal School and later studied at Oxford University. She returned to Japan, and in 1929, she became just the second female to be awarded a doctorate in science. Kuroda’s research focused on carthamin, the pigment of safflower plants. Tohoku University established the Chika Kuroda Prize in her honor in 1999.
Tange pursued further studies in the United States. Upon returning to Japan, she became a professor at Japan Women's University and conducted research on vitamins, eventually earning a doctorate in agriculture. Makita taught for a brief period at Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School. She resigned shortly after marrying Heizo Kanayama, a Western-style painting artist, and dedicated her life to supporting him.
A group photo of the Chemistry Department in 1918 (Ume Tange is in the third row down, third from the right)
A group photo of the Mathematics Department in 1916 (Raku Makita is in the middle row, third from the left)
A group photo of the Chemistry Department in 1914 (Chika Kuroda is in the middle row, on the very right side)
Prewar and Postwar
Female Students in Pre-War Period
The next batch of female students did not enroll at Tohoku University until 1922, when two female students joined the Mathematical Institute at the Graduate School of Science. The following year, Tsuya Kubo and Fusa Sakurada became the first female students to enroll in a humanities course at an imperial university, entering the Faculty of Law and Letters. From here onward, it became regular practice for Tohoku University to accept female students. A women’s student association was formed in the early Showa era, bearing the name Shinrankai.
Even as the practice of admitting female students became more mainstream across the country, with the notable exceptions of Tokyo and Kyoto, Tohoku Imperial University continued to boast the highest enrollment of women within the imperial university system. Living up to its reputation as the “academic city,” Sendai attracted female students who aspired to study in the fields of law, literature, and science.
Female university students from the Faculty of Law and Letters in 1940
Female Students in the Post-War Period
The outbreak of World War II paused the gains made by women in the preceding years. Yet in the immediate aftermath of the war, reforms took place that saw the old high school and imperial university system, with their male-orientated entrance exams, abolished. Mixed-education became widely accepted. In 1949, the first year the new system was put into place, Tohoku University welcomed 41 female students. Gradually, women began entering fields such as medicine and engineering.
The enrollment rate of women accelerated during the 1980s. This trend gained further momentum in 2001 when Tohoku University became the first university in the country to establish a Gender Equality Committee. The following year, the university also issued its Declaration for Gender Equality.
Between 2001 and 2021, the percentage of female doctoral students increased from 13.6% to 30.9%, and the percentage of female faculty members increased from 5.7% to 18.4%. While low by international standards, the university’s ongoing commitment to gender equality bore further fruit in 2022 when it launched its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Promotion Declaration. DEI aims to reduce the gender gap on campus, as well as promote diversity and equity in education so that all students, faculty, and staff can flourish regardless of their gender, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, or religion.
The first university student gathering for females in 1979
